The Chronicle’s Business blog

You’ve undoubtedly seen a few of the ads for Starbucks Afternoon Made. It’s an attempt to generate more traffic, sales and revenue after lunch, their slowest time. Starbucks is offering iced drinks, strawberry acai, caramel frappuccinos and other tantalizing afternoon concoctions to lure the morning crowd back after lunch. Starbucks does a booming business in the morning for obvious reasons. What happens after lunch is another story. We aren’t like Europeans who, with the exception of Germans, work nothing like Americans do. They sip coffee all day in sidewalk cafes and places like Starbucks. I know that’s a sweeping generality and some Europeans actually work for a living. Yet the European coffee houses were the inspiration for the Starbucks chain. Starbucks is not alone. Think of lawn services, pool installers and others whose business is seasonal. Many have come up with other products and services they can offer in their slow times, be it weeks or months. Even power companies encourage you to use non-peak hours by offering what they call “discounted” rates. Actually, they charge you a premium for peak hour use. What are the slow times in your business? What might you offer to stimulate more business during those times?

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